


The Mission

by chatterbox2686



Category: Lost Girl (TV), Rizzoli & Isles
Genre: F/F, Fights, Mythical Beings & Creatures
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-06
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-06-02 11:58:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 15,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19441006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chatterbox2686/pseuds/chatterbox2686
Summary: When Dyson falls ill, Tamsin and Bo travel to an alternate universe to save him. Rizzoli and Isles begin to investigate a bizarre crime scene, when they wind up traveling out of their own universe. What will happen when the four collide? I don't own any rights to any of these characters. I'm just a fan writing for fun.





	1. Chapter 1

“I don’t understand why we couldn’t just go to the carwash,” Maura stood near the garage.  
“It’s a beautiful day outside, Maura, just enjoy it!” Jane smiled brightly as she dunked her sponge into a warm soapy bucket of water.  
“I would enjoy it better if I was sitting on the beach enjoying a Mai Tai.” She stood in her fashionable summer dress, arms crossed, staring at Jane.  
Jane continued to scrub her unmarked police cruiser, in her daisy dukes and black tank top, “Well you can always dream.”   
“Ha ha,” Maura replied sarcastically.  
“Can you hand me the hose?”  
“You really want me to get dirty? This is a new dress,” she made a pouty face.  
“I’m not asking you to roll around in the dirt, Maura.”  
“Fine,” she lifted an eyebrow to her companion before retrieving the hose. As she walked over she accidently squeezed the lever, sending water cascading down all over Jane.  
“Maura!” Jane yelped, raising her arm to shield her eyes from the water.  
“I’m so sorry!” Maura shifted the hose to the ground, relinquishing her hold on the lever.  
“You’re gunna be,” Jane threw her sponge square at Maura’s chest. The sponge smacked into her, splashing soap and water everywhere.  
She gasped, “Jane!”  
“Oops, sorry,” she laughed, “it was an accident.”  
“So is this!” she screamed, unleashing the full fury of the hose back on Jane.  
“Stop, Maura! Stop!”  
Maura again stopped the flow of water, this time with a big smile on her face. Jane lifted her arms to her sides, water dripping from every inch of her skin, “Thanks for the shower.”  
“You know, I really do think I’m enjoying the weather now.”  
“Oh, I bet you are.” Just as Jane began to think of her counter attack, her phone began to ring. “Saved by the bell,” she jested at Maura. “Rizzoli.”  
Maura’s phone sounded shortly thereafter, “Dr. Isles.”  
“I’ll be right there,” they sounded in unison.  
“I guess you should change,” Maura smiled at Jane.  
“After I dry off my car.”  
A little while later, they were in the nice clean car headed to their crime scene. As they pulled up, they noticed that Korsak and Frost were nowhere to be found. “We must be the first ones here,” Jane stated, as she parked.  
“Well, that’s highly uncommon.”  
“Yeah,” Jane tried not to let her inner detective take over. “Let’s go see what they found.” They approached the crime scene, flashing their IDs to get into the apartment. “What’ve we got?” she asked as they approached the crime scene.  
“It appears to have been some kind of ritualistic killing,” the uniformed officer in charge of the crime scene responded.  
“What makes you say that?”  
“Just look around detective,” he gestured around the room.  
Maura hunched down over the body of a young blonde woman, “Jane, it appears that she bled out from all of her orifices.”  
“What does that mean?”  
“I’m not sure yet, some sort of hemorrhage by the looks of it. We’ll have to conduct an autopsy to be sure.”  
“Ok.” She began to survey the crime scene, taking note of all the candles and ritualistic objects strewn about. It wasn’t until she reached the diagram on the floor that she was more certain the killing could’ve been colt related. “Uh, Dr. Isles?”  
“Yes, Detective?”  
“Can you come take a look at this?”  
Maura made her way back to her feet and walked towards her co-worker. “What is it?”  
“Look at this,” she pointed to a diagram painted onto the wooden floor.  
“Interesting,” Maura began to study the symbols. “These markings seem to be symbiotic with the black arts.”  
“Oh, really?” Jane said sarcastically, “And how would you know, Dr. Death?”  
Maura looked at Jane, disapproving of the name calling, “I worked a few cases in Atlanta when I first became a medical examiner. We came across quite a few cases that revolved around the occult and the black arts.”  
“Huh, and these look similar to those?”  
“Yes, they do; although, I don’t recall seeing this combination of symbols before.”  
“So, what does this mean?”  
“I’m not sure, Jane.”  
Jane looked beyond the doctor and towards the corpse of their young victim, “What’d she get herself into?”


	2. Chapter 2

“Aw, come on Bo! It’s just a little harmless fun!” Kenzie exclaimed.  
“No, Kenzie, its trouble waiting to happen.”  
“I don’t see what could go wrong,” she held her katana up towards the seductive beauty before her.  
“Fine,” Bo caved, “but only if you promise to be careful this time.”  
“Oh, I promise!”  
Bo picked up her sword and held it at the ready before swinging at her opponent. The swords smacked together with a clang, sending tremors down their arms. Bo swung again, knocking the sword from Kenzie’s hands, throwing it to the floor. Bo quickly ran up on her prey, her sword positioned defensively along her forearm as she held it to her friend’s neck. “You’ve got a lot more to learn,” she said softly, staring into Kenzie’s defeated eyes.  
“Ok! Ok! You can put it down now!”  
Bo smiled, lowering her sword as her phone rang, “Yeah? Ok, I’ll be right there.”  
“We got a case?” Kenzie asked enthusiastically.  
“Yeah, Trick wants us down at the Dahl.”  
“Sounds like a plan.”  
Upon arriving at the Dahl, the women noted how odd it was for nobody to be present in the middle of the afternoon. “Where is everybody?” Kenzie asked, looking over to Trick.  
“We closed down for the day.”  
“Why?” Bo looked around suspiciously.  
“It’s Dyson…”  
“Dyson? Is he ok?”  
“He’s in the back,” Trick said, leading them toward the back room. Upon entering, they saw Tamsin hovering near Dyson, who was propped up on the couch.  
“Dyson!” Bo ran to his side, “What’s going on? What’s wrong?”  
Dyson looked at her, his eyes portraying weakness, “Something isn’t right.” His skin was cold and clammy, covered in a cold sweat.  
“What happened to you?” She grabbed his face gently in her hands, inspecting for any injuries.  
“It appears that someone, or something, is forging an attack against him,” a familiar voice chimed in.  
Bo turned to face her recent ex-girlfriend, standing across the room with her medical bag in hand. “Can’t you help him?”  
“I’m afraid not,” Lauren replied, avoiding eye contact with her former lover. “Whatever is attacking him is doing it in a way that we cannot detect.”  
“Well, what the hell is it?” Bo asked, turning to Trick for answers.  
“It’s got to be some sort of curse or spell,” he said as he flipped through some old text books.   
“What’s going on with him?”  
Lauren, still avoiding eye contact, replied factually, “Someone or something is attacking his immune system. Taking out his wolf before anything else; his inner wolf has been weakening slowly, next will be his physical being.”  
“Well, how do we figure out what this is so we can stop it?”  
“Here!” Trick exclaimed, pointing to an excerpt from the text he was flipping through. “It appears to be a curse.”  
Bo quickly moved toward the book, “All this says is that there is a poison curse out there that will render a fae helpless by feeding on their fae abilities before taking out their physical vessel.”  
“It’s the only thing that makes sense,” Trick responded.  
“So, if it’s a curse, what do we need to do to stop it?”  
“Well, according to the text there’s only one way to stop a curse like this.”  
“So, what is it?”  
“The potion to reverse the curse is in an alternate universe.”  
“Alternate universe?” Tamsin slowly made her way to the book.  
“Yes, it looks as though there is a shaman in another realm who can conjure up a potion to cure him. Of course, there’s a series of tasks you have to meet before he’ll offer up this solution.”  
“How do we get to this ‘Shaman’?” Bo pressed on.  
“We’ve got to create a portal.”  
“And how exactly are we supposed to do that?”  
“I know a way,” Tamsin stepped up to Bo. “Being with the dark, we know a few different ways to find the right portals. This appears to be a dark curse, so it’s right up my alley.”  
“How do I know you didn’t curse him yourself, Tamsin?” Bo glared at her.  
“I guess you don’t. But think this through, why would I want to kill Dyson? He’s my partner. He’s never done anything to give me a reason to want to harm him in any way. Besides, killing him would ruin my career.”  
Bo studied her for a moment before deciding that there was really no motive. “Ok, get in touch with your sources; we’re making the portal here, where I know I’m safe.”  
“Fine.” Tamsin looked around the room at everyone before heading out the door to find out what she needed to make her portal.


	3. Chapter 3

“Can I get CSRU in here to photograph this?” Jane gestured towards the floor diagram.  
“Sure,” the uniformed officer went out the door.  
“Well, I’m going to go ahead and authorize them to remove the body. I can’t find a cause of death standing here.” Maura stated.  
“Yeah, I think I need to look around a little more to see if there’s anything in here that could’ve caused her to bleed from every hole in her body.” She picked up a skull from the desk nearby, “Ouch!” A sharp edge of bone sliced her finger, causing her to drop it, sending it rolling into the circle of symbols.   
“You ok?” Maura asked, holding her hands out for Jane to show her injury.  
“Damn thing cut me!” Jane quickly pulled her glove off, causing a couple drops of her blood to fall onto the diagram below. After looking for herself, she gave her hand up to the doctor for inspection.  
“Just a scrape, but you’ll need to wash it out to prevent infection. Here,” she pulled some hydrogen peroxide from her bag and splashed some onto a cotton ball before handing it over to Jane. Jane dabbed her cut with the cotton swab, wincing as it bubbled in the wound. “Here you go,” Maura handed the detective a Band-Aid.  
“Thank you,” Jane applied the Band-Aid and carefully retrieved the skull from the ground with her gloved hand.  
“Maybe I’ll stay behind and help you out. You won’t know what you’re looking for.”  
“Ok,” Jane smiled.  
“Traffic was a bear!” Korsak yelled, walking into the crime scene.  
“I figured something was up; we never beat you to the crime scene.”  
“Yeah well, I was waiting for that partner of yours, but it turns out he had something come up with his family and he’ll be out of town for the next few weeks.”  
“Is everything ok?” Jane asked concerned.  
“I think his mom got into a car accident. From what he said, it’s nothing too serious, but she’s in the hospital recovering from emergency surgery.”  
“Oh God, I’ll have to call him.”  
“The good news is that people involved in a vehicle crash are treated immediately and therefore have a much higher success rate with their treatments. Being treated so quickly would’ve enabled her doctors to repair any of her injuries within the golden hour.” Maura stated matter-of-factly.  
“The golden hour?” Korsak looked at her quizzically.  
“The golden hour is the first sixty minutes after someone suffers some sort of accident or severe injury. Studies show that a person treated right away for their traumatic injuries will have a better chance of recovery and could even save their life, at least in a preventable death. If that sixty minutes passes, even a preventable death can suffer fatal complications.” Maura looked back at Jane.  
“Wow, thanks for that.” Jane’s sarcasm overshadowed her concern for Frost’s mother.  
“Just trying to be reassuring,” Maura said defensively.  
“Well, I appreciate the information,” Korsak smiled sweetly at her. “So, what’s the deal here?”  
“Looks like it could’ve been some sort of occult related death. Dr. Isles here says that these markings resemble some markings she knows to be from the black arts. Only thing is, this combination isn’t something she’s seen. So, we’ll need to do some footwork to see what we can learn about this.”  
“Sounds like a good place to start.” He turned to Maura, “Dr. Isles, your nose is bleeding.”  
“What?” She lifted her hand to her nose, “Oh my.”  
“Are you ok?” Jane asked placing a hand on her shoulder.  
“Yeah, it’s probably just allergies.” Jane handed her a handkerchief. As Maura grabbed the cloth some of her blood also dripped onto the pentagram. “Thank you.”  
Jane looked down, noticing that they’d both bled onto the floor, “Korsak, can you let CSRU know that there will be blood from us on the floor so they can document it? They may also need to photograph it.”  
“I’ll go get them right now,” he turned, knocking a candle from the desk in his haste.  
The hot wax followed the circle of the painted area on the ground, encompassing the doctor and detective. Before they could react, the wind began to pick up, halting time outside the circle. Jane looked out in fear as the symbols began to light up in the whirlwind. Within an instant the wind stopped and they felt themselves fall to the ground.


	4. Chapter 4

Bo sat at the bar swiveling a straw around the rim of her glass when Tamsin walked back in. “Did you get it?”  
“I got it,” she took a seat at the stool next to the succubus. “How’s he doing?”  
“He’s resting now, but he doesn’t look any better. So, what’ve we got to do?”  
“According to my source, we have to draw these symbols on the ground.”  
“What do they mean?”  
“Better not to ask, black arts ‘n all.”  
“Got it.”  
“Where do you wanna do this?”  
“In the back room; Trick’s waiting.”  
“Gee, wouldn’t want to make him wait,” she said sarcastically as they got up and headed towards the room.  
“Trick, we need a place to draw these symbols to create this portal,” Bo handed him the paper Tamsin had provided.  
He looked at the symbols, wanting to disapprove, knowing how dangerous this mission really could be. “We’ll do it over here.” He grabbed some chalk and drew a circle on the ground.  
“I’ll draw the symbols so you don’t have to dabble there, Blood King,” Tamsin smirked at him. He gave her a sarcastic smile before handing her the chalk. “Yo doc, you want to light that candle there? I’m gunna need the wax.”  
Lauren stared at her as she lit the candle and placed it down on a nearby desk; she hated Tamsin and everything she stood for.  
“So, is there anything we should know going in?” Bo asked.  
“I really don’t know what you can expect on the other side,” Trick replied, “but I know that you will have to go through a lot of hoops to get to this Shaman.”  
“Like what?”  
“I’m not sure, but I would make sure to arm yourselves sufficiently in order to overcome whatever you may need to.”  
“Duly noted.”  
“Ok,” Tamsin stood up and dusted her hands of the chalk residue. “This is done.”  
“We just need to get the weapons we need and we’re good.”  
“I’m good,” she unbuttoned her shirt, revealing a chest vest strapped with her own personal arsenal.  
Bo’s eyebrow flickered in amazement, “Wow…nice.”  
“Yeah, I thought so,” she smiled, buttoning her shirt back up.  
“I’ll just arm up,” Bo wandered to a trunk on the nearby wall and began to strap on her weapons.  
“You better be very careful!” Kenzie told her. “I can’t go with you on this one. Trick says humans stand next to no chance to make it out alive where you’re going.”  
“Well, I feel better knowing you’ll be here taking care of Dyson.”  
Kenzie forced a smile before wrapping her arms around her friend. “Just watch your back,” she whispered, “we still don’t know if we can trust her.”  
“Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.”  
“There’s one more thing,” Trick said darkly.  
“What’s that,” Bo released herself from the embrace of her best friend.  
“Once you get to this alternate universe, there will be no way of coming back unless you’ve completed your mission.”  
“No pressure,” Tamsin chimed in. “Let’s just do this.”  
Bo caught a glimpse of Lauren watching her, “We’ll be back soon.” She lightly kissed Dyson on the forehead before facing Tamsin, fully aware that Lauren wanted to be acknowledged. “So, where do you want me?” The question fulfilled its destiny, dropping Lauren’s gaze to the ground and spreading a wide smile across Tamsin’s face.  
“Why, right here next to me,” she looked over to see the doctor’s face turn red with jealousy. “Hey doc, you wanna go ahead and grab that candle for me?”  
Lauren looked up, rearing her anger to the whole room. She grabbed the wide, red candle and handed it to her foe, spilling some hot wax over her hand, “Oops.”  
Tamsin breathed in erotically, “Thanks for the pick me up.” She smiled defiantly back at her, peeling the hardening wax from her flesh.  
“What’s the candle for?” Bo asked softly.  
“We’ve got to pour the hot wax around the circle to lock us in and lock everyone else out.”  
“Ok,” Bo grabbed the candle and proceeded to pour it around the edge of the circle. Tamsin reached down and pulled a dagger from Bo’s thigh holster. Bo turned around defensively, “What are you doing?”  
“Relax; we need to add our blood to this symbol to open the portal.” She gently ran her hand down Bo’s arm before grabbing her hand and turning it palm up. Making eye contact with Lauren, she gently kissed the open palm and drew the dagger across it.  
“Ah,” Bo grabbed her hand back from her, watching as she drew the dagger across her own palm.  
She promptly wiped the dagger off on her pants before sliding it back into its sheath. “You ready?”  
“Yeah.”  
They looked each other in the eyes as they both turned their palms face down and squeezed blood into the pentagon drawn below. The symbols all began to emanate light and the wind started whipping quickly around them. Bo looked back out at the room; everyone was frozen in time. Another moment passed before they were thrown to the ground.


	5. Chapter 5

Jane and Maura groaned, wriggling on the floor in agony. “Maura?” Jane was the first to open her eyes, completely unaware of her surroundings.  
“I’m here, Jane.” Maura slowly lifted her eyelids.  
“Where is here?” Jane asked, sitting up gently.  
Maura looked around for a moment before realizing that she had never before seen the place they were. It looked like they were in a dungeon of some sort; chains were strewn about, although they were not hooked to them. “I’m not entirely sure. It appears to be some sort of underground retention area.”  
“You mean a dungeon?” Jane asked condescendingly.  
“It’s a definite possibility,” Maura admitted. “How do we get out of here?”  
“We’ll have to look around.”  
Just as they made it to their feet, a blinding light enveloped the room, causing them both to shield their eyes. They heard screams, along with a couple thuds before the light finally extinguished. As the light dissipated, they both fell back down to their knees, holding their stomachs. “I don’t feel so good,” Jane forced out.  
“Yeah, me neither,” Maura was almost in a child’s pose.  
Jane, being the protector, quickly made her way back to her feet to survey her surroundings yet again. “Maura,” she whispered pressingly, “who are these people?”  
Maura lifted her head to see two other women sprawled on the ground. “I don’t know Jane, but I know they weren’t there only a moment ago.”  
“Get up!” she demanded quietly, pulling the doctor to her feet.  
“Ok, ok,” Maura looked down upon the strange women. “Where did they come from, Jane?”  
“I have no clue! Are they alive?” She asked weakly, looking at Maura.  
“Let me check,” She’d just bent down to check for a pulse when both women gasped as if they’d been deprived of air. Maura pulled back behind Jane for protection.  
“Who are you?” Jane demanded, reaching for her gun.  
Bo quickly lifted her eyes to meet Jane’s, “We’re not here to hurt you!”  
“Who the hell are you?” Jane repeated, more demand in her voice.  
“I’m Bo and this is Tamsin, who are you?” Tamsin raised her eyes to see who it was they were dealing with.  
“I’m Detective Jane Rizzoli, this is Dr. Maura Isles, Chief Medical Examiner. Who exactly are you? And where the hell did you come from? There was nobody here just a moment ago!”  
“Medical examiner?” Tamsin asked condescendingly. “What happened to Lauren?”  
“Who’s Lauren?” Maura asked, wondering who it was that these women thought would be better than her.  
“Duh, she’s the Ash’s doctor,” Bo chimed in.  
“What the hell is an Ash?” Jane asked, confused.  
Bo stopped in her tracks and looked over at Tamsin, before whispering, “I don’t think they know the fae.”  
“Thank you, captain obvious,” Tamsin said before turning her attention back to Jane. “Who the hell are you?”  
“I just told you. Detective Jane Rizzoli, Boston homicide.”  
“Boston?” Bo asked. “What are you doing here?”  
“I have no clue,” Jane said, her confusion intensifying. “We were at a crime scene. Time seemed to freeze and the next thing we knew, we were down here.”  
“You shouldn’t be here,” Tamsin said showing a slight concern for the humans.  
“Why not?” Maura asked.  
“Because now you’re just one more thing we have to worry about.”  
“What do you mean worry about,” Jane asked accusingly. “We can take care of ourselves.”  
“Well, at least one of you,” Bo stated, staring down the beautiful medical examiner.  
“Hey!” Jane yelled, stepping in front of her best friend, “She is not some piece of meat!”  
“No, but she is beautiful,” Bo commented before she was elbowed by her dark counterpart.  
“Ow,” she glared at Tamsin. “You don’t agree?”  
Tamsin pulled her to the side, “I agree, but you’re letting your succu-sex drive interfere with this conversation. Don’t you think you could keep it in your pants at least until we find out what the hell they’re doing here?”  
“Yeah, yeah.”  
“So,” Tamsin turned back to face Jane, “What exactly did you say you were doing before you wound up here?”  
“We were investigating a crime scene…some young female who wound up dead but was surrounded by a ton of occult type materials.”  
“How do you mean?” Bo asked, incessantly.  
“We’re not entirely sure yet,” Maura replied. “I released the body for autopsy so that I could find out her cause of death. But we somehow wound up here.”  
“She means, how did you know that it was occult related?” Tamsin clarified.  
“There were a ton of items related to witchcraft; however, the diagram on the floor was the most convincing.”  
Tamsin sighed, “Did they look like this?” She held out the paper she’d supplied from her source earlier that day.  
Jane grabbed the paper, “Yes! Exactly like this! Where did you get this?” She again positioned her hand on her gun, not sure if these women were secretly behind the death of their victim.  
“Relax!” Tamsin demanded, “It looks like you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. We created this portal to an alternate universe to look for a potion to cure my partner.”  
“I don’t understand,” Maura said, shaking her head.  
“My friend is dying. We need to find a Shaman who can provide us with the potion to save his life. So, we drew this diagram and transported to this alternate universe.” Bo attempted to explain.  
Jane’s mouth dropped slightly, before she looked back at the women in disbelief, “Right, and I’m Mary Poppins.”  
Maura laughed before turning her attention back to the unknown women. “Let’s assume that we somehow wound up getting sucked into your portal. How is that even possible? We were just standing there; we didn’t even say any incantations or anything.”  
“You actually believe this nonsense?” Jane asked snidely.  
“Yes, Jane. With all that I’ve studied, the dark arts are definitely full of anomalies that defy the laws of science. If what they are saying is true, then we somehow managed to transport ourselves to this place.”  
“Unbelievable! So, are the magic words to get us home ‘Beam me up Scottie’?” Tamsin chuckled slightly at Jane’s sarcasm.  
“I’m not sure what you mean,” Maura said, genuinely confused.  
“This portal doesn’t take an incantation,” Tamsin’s patience was wearing thin; “it just needs to be sealed with candle wax and be provided with the blood of those who are enveloped in the circle.”  
“Oh my god,” Jane looked at Maura in bewilderment. “My cut…your bloody nose…Korsak knocking over the candle…”  
“Meer coincidence, Jane.”  
“We don’t believe in coincidences, Maura!” Jane’s eyes were frantic. “Besides, I thought you were all about the anomalies and what not. What does this mean?”  
“I’m pretty sure it means that we’re all stuck here together whether you like it or not,” Tamsin said, getting irritated with the bickering. “Now, we need to find a way out of here in order to get back to where we belong. I’m assuming that means that you two are stuck with us as well.”  
“How do we get back then?” Jane asked, irritated with the situation.  
“Like I said,” Bo looked her square in the eyes, “we need to find the Shaman so we can get the potion my friend needs to save his life.”  
“Why should we help you?” Maura asked, not wanting to partake in anything crazy.  
Bo smiled at her and gently ran her hand along her arm, “Because the more help we have, the better off we are.” She was attempting to use her succubus seduction charms against the measly human.  
“Can you please not touch me?” Maura pulled her arm back.  
Bo, concerned, looked to Tamsin, “We need a moment alone.”  
“Oh, do we?” Tamsin asked suggestively.  
“Yes,” Bo dragged her to an area a little more private. “We have a problem!”  
“You mean besides the fact that we now have a couple tag-alongs?”  
“My powers are gone, Tamsin!” Bo’s frantic demeanor made Tamsin realize she wasn’t joking.  
“Are you sure?”  
“Yes, I’m sure! I was just trying to get her to go along with us, you know, using my mojo…it didn’t work! I didn’t even feel anything!”  
“That is odd,” Tamsin thought for a moment. “Prove it, feed off me.”  
“What?”  
“Not like that! I just want to be sure.”  
“Fine,” Bo surrendered before locking lips with the Valkyrie. As she attempted to commandeer her chi, nothing happened.  
Tamsin opened her eyes, noticing that Bo’s eyes were still brown and she became worried about what could’ve happened. “I wonder if I still have mine.” She walked out to the area the two strangers stood and attempted to render them unconscious with her Valkyrie powers, but nothing happened. She quickly retreated back to Bo, “I’ve got nothing!”  
“Think,” Bo said desperately. “This must be some sort of test from this stupid parallel world.”  
“Maybe that’s it,” Tamsin agreed. “Maybe it’s just leveling the playing field. Maybe we have to get through this without using our advantages.”  
“Yeah, maybe. I still think we need to keep a close eye on those two; we don’t know if we can trust them.”  
“Agreed.” Tamsin looked back at the pair of women, “We should really get a move on. I don’t want to be stuck here longer than we have to be.”


	6. Chapter 6

“I just don’t think we should trust them Maura!” Jane whispered, never breaking her sight of the other women.  
“I’m not sure we have much of a choice, Jane. We have no idea where we are or how exactly we got here. If the outrageous story they told us is true, we don’t stand a chance of getting out of here alive without them.”  
“Oh yes, Maura. We were magically transported to an alternate universe coincidently at the same time they were.” Jane’s sarcasm was an attempt to cover her fear.  
“Do you have an alternative explanation?”  
“Well, no.”   
“Then I guess we’ll have to go along. We’ll just need to be cautious of them.”  
“Ok, fine. But you’d better stay close!”  
Maura nodded as Bo and Tamsin waltzed back over to them. “So, what now?”  
Bo looked around for a moment, “I guess we find a way out of here.”  
Jane looked around before noticing a crack of light from a boulder nearby. “There! There’s light coming in.”  
“Let’s see if we can move it.”   
They walked to the boulder and began to pull at it from all different angles as Maura studied the nearby walls. “This is a very odd place to find an endoskeleton.” She squatted down next to the bones, “Clearly not a natural death.” Fully aware she was talking to herself, Maura pulled an arrow from the remains. “What happened to you?” As she attempted to shift the body down to a prone position, she noticed that the skull was stuck into the wall. She leaned in for a closer look before tilting the skull upwards, causing the boulder to swing out of their way.  
Tamsin looked down at the doctor and smiled, “Nice move, doc!”  
“No kidding,” Bo cautiously walked out into the sunlight.  
“How’d you figure that out?” Jane asked, helping Maura to her feet.  
“I was merely inspecting the remains. I had no idea that would happen.”  
“Well, good move anyway!” Jane smiled at her as they joined the other two in the sunlight.  
The bright light from the sun caused them all to squint. Once their eyes began to adjust, they saw the vast landscape expanding before them. A large meadow filled with dandelions stretched clear to another set of mountains in the distance.  
“It’s beautiful,” Maura said in amazement.  
“Yeah, but where do we go?” Tamsin asked.  
“I’m willing to bet that we need to go to those mountains,” Bo gestured to the horizon.  
“So, follow the yellow brick road?” Jane implied sarcastically.  
Tamsin chuckled softly to herself as she turned to start the long trek to the mountains.


	7. Chapter 7

Tamsin and Bo walked a few feet ahead of the others, occasionally glancing back at them, “I don’t know. I just don’t trust that they’re who they say they are.” Bo said, glancing at the detective. “And you saw that she has a gun, right?”  
“What’re you worried about? You’re the all-powerful chosen one,” Tamsin teased. “If she pisses you off, you can just fight her to death.”  
“I’m being serious!” Bo gave her a playful shove. “What if they’re one of these challenges that we’re supposed to be dealing with?”  
“Well, I say we roll with the punches. They’re human anyway and Trick said humans are as good as dead here.”  
“I guess you’re right,” she said, again glancing back at the detective. “Of course, without our powers, we’re also human.”  
“Right,” Tamsin said grimly.  
“See look!” Jane directed Maura's attention to Bo, “She keeps looking at me.”  
“Well, maybe she likes you,” Maura giggled.  
“Oh, aren’t you so funny,” Jane said sarcastically. “I’ll be sure to put that on your tombstone when they chop you into tiny bits. ‘Here lies Maura – Chief Medical Examiner and Comedian Extraordinaire’.”  
“Historically speaking, a tombstone was the stone lid of a burial box; therefore, not something that would be seen at a gravesite as it would be underground. I believe you meant to say headstone.”  
“I can’t believe you’re worried more about my terminology than the fact that we’re wandering through some unknown place with two strangers who, for all we know, are here to kill us!”  
“I don’t believe they’re going to kill us, Jane. I think they were just as surprised to see us as we were to see them.”  
“I sure hope you’re right.”  
“Me too.”   
“Stop!” Tamsin ordered in a hushed whisper, “Did you hear that?”  
Bo stopped and attempted to hear what Tamsin was hearing, “I don’t hear anything.”  
“Exactly,” she said, looking around in paranoia. “There have been random animal noises the whole time we’ve been walking, but they suddenly stopped.”  
“You’re right; I noticed that too,” Jane said as her and Maura approached them.  
“But why?” Bo asked suspiciously, her hand firmly encompassing the grip of her dagger.  
Maura quietly chimed in, “Some creatures scare away other animals of lesser grandeur and threat.”  
“Yes,” Jane answered sarcastically, “thank you for that information.”  
“Actually, that’s a good possibility,” Bo chimed in. “We’re out in the middle of nowhere and we’re supposed to be confronted by challenges. We’d be lucky if it was just an animal.”  
“I don’t know about that,” Tamsin’s eyes were wide with fear.  
The other three turned to face a large, hairy creature with ram horns spiraling out of its bull-like snout. “What the hell is that?” Jane drew her weapon, “What do we do?”  
“Well,” Tamsin slowly unbuttoned her shirt and grabbed her saw bladed boomerang, “I don’t know what it would take to kill this thing.”  
“I’m not so sure we’re supposed to kill it,” Bo said, dagger in hand.  
“What do you mean?”  
Bo slowly began to make her way toward the creature, ensuring she didn’t spook it. The beast stared at her, his nostrils flaring as he breathed. “What is your purpose here?” Bo asked loudly, still a good forty yards away from the creature.  
The creature let out a deep shriek before shaking his head and stomping his front hooves into the dirt. Bo stopped in her tracks, “I could be wrong.”  
Jane, not wanting Bo to be attacked without any backup, instructed Maura to stay back before she slowly walked up next to the chosen one. “What are you, crazy?”  
“I really think there’s something more to this than killing him.”  
“How do you figure that? He’s a wild…whatever he is I’m sure he would rip us to shreds in a heartbeat.”  
The beast, not liking how close the women were getting to him, let out a loud, shrieking roar and ran towards them. Stopping only ten feet from them, he snarled and sat back on his haunches.   
Jane’s gun was aimed straight for the chest of the beast; she knew that shooting it in the head may not work if she needed to take the shot.  
Tamsin slowly walked up behind Bo, “I think you’re right.”  
“What?” Bo asked quietly.  
“When he charged you, I saw light emanating from his horns. I have no clue what significance that has, but I don’t think you’re supposed to kill him.”  
“If I may,” Maura softly added, now close behind Jane, “Some cultures believe there are magical and often medicinal uses for the shavings of the horns of rams. His horns resemble those that I’ve heard of; it’s possible we may need that.”  
“If there are magical powers then I’d say we definitely need to get some shavings. But how?” Tamsin pondered, never shaking her eye contact with the beast before them.  
“I have an idea,” Bo said confidently as she lowered her dagger. “Why don’t you guys give us some space?”  
“Are you out of your mind?” Jane exclaimed quietly.  
“I think he just feels intimidated by all of us, and our weapons. I can handle this. And if, for some reason, I don’t make it through this, you guys need to get to the Shaman and get the potion to save Dyson.”  
Maura nodded respectfully and retreated back by a tree she could use as a shield. Jane kept her weapon pointed at the beast, “Are you sure about this?”  
“Yes,” Bo looked at her, “Put the gun down, detective.”  
Jane glanced quickly to her before slowly backing up towards Maura. Once she’d arrived at the doctor’s side, she reluctantly placed her pistol back in her holster. “This is suicide.”  
Maura looked at her softly, “We don’t know them well enough to say that this is a mistake. For all we know, she could succeed.”  
Tamsin looked at Bo, then back to the beast, “Have you thought this through?”  
“Yes. Dyson would do the same for me.”  
“True, but Dyson is also an animal.”  
“Are you worried about me, Tamsin?” Bo teased.  
“No,” she said defensively, “I just don’t want to be the one who has to tell the Blood King that I let his granddaughter die.”  
“Don’t worry.”  
“I just want to go on record as saying I don’t like this.” She backed away until she was near the other two women and they watched in anticipation.  
Bo’s dagger was down at her side, “I don’t want to hurt you. If you have something that I need to get to the Shaman, can you please just let me get it without putting up a fight?”  
The beast nodded his head up and down emphatically, his horns starting to glow brilliantly. He gently crouched down, tilting his horns toward the beautiful woman. “Am I supposed to just scrape some of this off?” The beast again nodded, only slightly.  
Bo cautiously raised her dagger to one of the horns and lightly shaved a couple layers off and into her hand. “Thank you,” she said graciously, backing away from the beast.  
Just as she was about to walk back towards her friends, a loud high-pitched screech bellowed from behind her. Before she could turn to see what was wrong, the beast before her bounded straight for her counterparts. Jane instinctively spun around and drew her weapon at the imposing threat, forgetting about Maura for only a moment.  
“Get down!” Tamsin yelled, tackling Maura to the ground just before the ram-like beast plowed them over.  
The beast barely missed Jane as it clashed with an equally hairy opponent. “Maura!” she looked down, “are you ok?”  
“Yes,” she said, allowing Tamsin to pick her back up off the ground. “Thank you.”  
“It’s nothing,” Tamsin remarked, looking at the scuffle between the two creatures.  
“We have to help him!” Bo yelled, running up to Tamsin.  
“No!” Tamsin grabbed her arm, “we’re very susceptible to death here and we can’t go risking our lives for these things.”  
“She’s right,” Jane said, aiming her weapon towards the scuffle. “This thing helped us out, we should do the same.” When she got a good shot, she shot a round off at the attacker, clipping it in its hind quarters. The creature scampered off, leaving a slightly wounded beast behind. The beast lightly licked its wounds before looking back graciously at the detective.   
“We should see if he needs help,” Maura commented lightly.  
As if knowing what she was saying, the beast got up, looked one last time towards the women and took off in the opposite direction of its opponent.  
Bo carefully emptied to ram horn shavings into her pocket and zipped it shut, “Come on, we need to keep moving.”


	8. Chapter 8

Darkness began to fall as they reached the base of the closest mountain. “We’ll need to set up shelter, who knows what could be lurking out here at nightfall,” Bo said, looking for a good place to bed for the night.  
“How ‘bout over there?” Tamsin asked, pointing to a nearby cliff ledge.  
“That looks like it should work just fine. Why don’t the two of you go clear it out under there and we’ll go collect some fire wood?”  
Jane nodded and guided Maura to the overhang. “I’m so sorry.”  
Maura looked at her in confusion, “For what?”  
“When that second beast attacked, I reacted without ensuring your safety. If it wasn’t for the Tasmanian devil, you would’ve been mowed down.”  
Maura chuckled, “Her name is Tamsin, Jane. Besides, I should’ve gotten myself out of the way. You reacted on your instincts to protect; that’s one of the things I admire most about you.”  
“But you still could’ve been killed,” she paused. “I don’t know what I’d do with myself if I’d let that happen.”  
Maura smiled sweetly at her raven-haired counterpart, “Don’t worry Jane, I’m just fine.”  
Jane smiled and embraced her friend tightly, “Thank God for that.”  
“So, what do you think?” Tamsin gestured towards the pair under the ledge.  
“About what?” Bo asked, looking towards the women.  
“You think they’re like, a thing?”  
“No,” she said obviously, “what makes you say that?”  
“Haven’t you noticed the way they look at each other? Kind of how you and the doc back home used to look at each other.”  
“Yeah? Well, not anymore.”  
“What happened with you two anyway?”  
“She just wasn’t happy with me; what more can I say?”  
“I don’t know, seems like it just kinda came out of left field don’t you think?”  
“Yeah, definitely caught me by surprise.”  
“Maybe there’s someone else.”  
“Maybe.”  
“Wonder if she was just sick of dealing with the succubus.”  
“Oh, so it’s my fault now? Why do you even care anyway?”  
“Wow, easy there, warrior woman, I was just trying to make conversation.”  
“Yeah, well make it another way.”  
“Ok…so do you generally go for doctors? Cuz I saw the way you were looking at this medical examiner.”  
“Aw,” Bo smiled, “are you jealous?”  
“What?” Tamsin’s face contorted awkwardly at the accusation, “No.”  
“Uh huh. That’s why you got all seductive in front of Lauren earlier.”  
“Seductive? What? That was just my idea of playing around; I love to see her angry.”  
“Yeah, well, I think you did the trick.”  
“Good,” she smiled triumphantly. “I think this is enough wood, let’s head back.”


	9. Chapter 9

The sun was already dipping below the horizon when Bo and Tamsin returned with firewood. To their surprise, Jane and Maura had already fashioned a make-shift shelter, complete with grass bedding. “I see you've been busy,” Bo smiled flirtatiously at Maura.  
“As a matter of fact, we have,” Maura smiled back. Jane took notice and felt a wave of jealousy weave a knot in her stomach.  
Tamsin began fashioning a fire pit, ensuring it wasn't too close for the embers to make it to the beds. “We're going to need to find food in the morning,” Bo said as she sat on a nearby rock.  
“Why do we have to do it?” Tamsin grumbled.  
“Well the only weapon they have is a gun. You really think anything will be left after they shoot something?”  
Tamsin thought for a minute before conceding, “Yeah, I guess you're right, but if we kill it, they'd better cook it.”  
“I'd be more than happy to,” Maura replied as she walked up.  
Jane followed behind her and found a log to sit on as Tamsin lit the fire. “Where'd you learn how to do that?” Jane asked.  
“A long time ago, I used to practically live outdoors. It was either freeze to death or learn how to start a fire,” she smiled at the memory. “There were a few nights I thought I would freeze before I finally figured it out.”  
“Thankfully you did!” Maura's tone suddenly became serious, “Hypothermia is a terrible way to die. First your limbs lose their circulation, and then your internal organs begin to shut down. If you're lucky, you'll fall asleep before it gets too painful. Once you fall asleep, you never wake up.”  
“Thanks for that, 'Talking Google',” Jane remarked sarcastically.  
Tamsin laughed, “'Talking Google'?”  
“Trust me,” Jane replied, “she lives up to the name.”  
“I bet she does,” Bo commented, suggestively raising an eyebrow.  
“Tone it down there 'Wonder Boobs',” Tamsin shot sarcastically at Bo.  
“'Wonder Boobs'? Really?” Bo retorted condescendingly.  
Tamsin’s face shifted to imply that her comment was justified, “Yeah.” She smiled at the brunette before backing away from the fire and sitting next to Jane on the log. “So, you're a cop, huh?”  
Jane turned her head slightly, barely making eye contact with her interrogator, “A homicide detective, yes.”  
“I'm somewhat of a detective where we're from too; so, I guess we have something in common.”  
“What do you mean by 'somewhat',” she asked suspiciously.  
“Well, my partner and I investigate all kinds of stuff. We just don't have official titles there.”  
“What, like The X Files?” Jane laughed sarcastically.  
Tamsin thought for a brief moment before smiling, “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”  
“That's interesting,” Jane began to ease up a bit. She turned towards Bo, “What do you do?”  
“I, uh,” she hesitated for a moment, “I run a Private Investigative business with my bestie.”  
“That also sounds like it would be very interesting.”  
“That's an understatement!” Bo laughed, “I've seen things you'd never believe.”  
“It's kinda complicated,” Tamsin interjected. “We live in a different world.”  
“What do you mean by that?” Maura asked curiously.  
“Let’s just say, if you think this place is odd, our reality would blow your mind.”  
“Well, we’re already stuck in this parallel universe; why not just tell us about your world?” Maura encouraged.  
Tamsin looked at Bo to get her input. After a few seconds, Bo finally agreed, “Sure, what’s the harm?”  
“We are a species called the Fae. We live among humans, but we’re very different.”  
“Different how,” Maura was clearly eager to learn about this new species.  
“That depends on what type of Fae you are,” Tamsin replied. “For example, I’m a Valkyrie, and I have had many lives. In this life, I can use my abilities to render people unconscious.”  
“I thought Valkyries were supposed to ferry the dead to Oden,” Maura noted.  
“In several of my past lives I did. Let’s just say, I’m not your typical Valkyrie.”  
“Uh huh,” Jane was unconvinced. “What about you?”  
“Me?” Bo’s eyebrows flew up.  
“Yes, you.”  
“I’m a succubus.”  
“That would explain a lot,” Jane laughed.  
“But I thought that a succubus sucked the life out of men who were interested in her sexually.” Maura was shaking her head lightly, confusion painted on her face.  
“Maura,” Jane said offensively.  
“What?” Maura replied innocently.  
“Well not just men,” she smiled. “But I don’t kill anymore, now that I know what I am. "My girlfr-", she hesitated, “my ex-girlfriend helped me control my hunger.”  
“So, you’re a murderer,” Jane stated sternly.  
“No.” Bo said defensively, “Before I knew what I was, people died just from being intimate with me.”  
“At least they died with a smile on their face,” Tamsin laughed.  
Maura’s face lit up, “Hmmm.” She got up, her lips pursed.  
“Not to mention, she can make people fall for her, simply by touching them.”  
Maura’s eyes widened, “Really?”  
Bo nodded, a small smile bashfully curled at the edges of her lips.  
“Can you show me?”  
Jane’s eyes darted to Maura, “No! No, she can’t show you!”  
“She’s right,” Bo chimed in, “when we got here we lost all of our gifts. We’re just like humans here.”  
“Yeah and it’s disgusting!” Tamsin retorted.  
“Excuse me?” Jane glared at her.  
“I hate all these gushy human emotions!”  
“Gushy human emotions. Really?” Bo looked at her sarcastically.  
“You can’t tell me you don’t feel them.”  
“The only difference I notice is that I don’t have the urge to feed.”  
“The urge to feed?” Jane looked at Bo, her eyes showing her anger. “Is that all we are to you? Kibble?”  
“Of course not,” Bo assured her. “You’re looking at this the wrong way. When I say feed, I mean that I need intimacy.”  
“Ok, so we’re your little sex puppets.”  
“Jane,” Maura’s face told Jane it was time to let it go.  
“What? I…” Jane stopped her protest when Maura’s eyebrow rose.  
By now, the wilderness surrounding them had gone completely dark. All the creatures began to sound from all directions. “I think it’s time to crawl into that cave and call it a night. This fire will fizzle out in the next half hour or so, so we won’t draw any attention from any unexpected guests.” Bo explained.  
Everyone got up from the warmth of the fire and climbed onto the grassy padding.  
Jane pulled her holster from her belt and rolled to her right. She rested the gun, still in holster, next to her face, behind Maura, and left her hand resting on the grip just in case. Neither Bo nor Tamsin removed their weapons; they were more comfortable with them right where they were.  
Jane awoke sometime in the night to Maura shivering by her side. Not wanting to wake her, she gently scooted herself closer and wrapped her left arm around Maura’s waist, ensuring that the gun remained between them.  
Maura’s hand instinctually found Jane’s and grasped it firmly as she allowed her body to sink into her. Jane’s heart pounded in her head with this feeling of closeness. After a moment of tension, Jane finally allowed her body to relax and she fell soundly back to sleep.  
On the other side of the overhang, Tamsin had already curled up against Bo’s back for warmth. Ordinarily Bo would tell her to find her own warmth, but here, in this strange place, the contact felt comforting. She caught herself wondering what Lauren would think, but then she remembered the gut-wrenching break up. Not wanting to get herself worked up, she shook the thought from her mind and attempted to get some sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Tamsin jolted awake to the sound of thuds echoing through the cave. For a moment she tried to get her bearings before she felt the ground begin to vibrate. “Get up!” She yelled, knocking Bo’s shoulder.  
Bo, who was still half asleep, rolled towards her aggressor, “What? Why are you hitting?”  
“Something’s coming! You can’t hear that?!”  
Jane and Maura began to worm out of their sleep with the commotion.  
Bo sat up, now hearing the noises loud and clear. “We need to move!”  
The quartet made it to their feet and looked in time to see fire shoot out from deeper within the cave. “What was that?” Jane yelled, ripping her gun from its holster.  
“It can’t be,” Maura said, shaking her head in disbelief.   
“Can’t be what?” Jane was clearly in a panic.  
“A dragon,” Tamsin said, tearing her shirt open to access her weapons.  
“Let me guess, we have to defeat it to accomplish this mission?” Bo’s face clearly lacked excitement.  
“That’d be my guess,” Tamsin replied, her throwing knives in hand.  
“Get behind me,” Jane ordered as she quickly pushed Maura backwards.  
Maura complied, grasping Jane’s shoulders and peering around her as a child would. “How big is this thing?”  
“I think we’re about to find out,” Bo pulled her dagger from its sheath and got into a fighting stance.  
The ground beneath them shook as the beast neared the face of the cave. Another moment passed before yellow eyes were visible.  
“Oh shit,” Tamsin said in disbelief. “It’s gotta be at least ten feet!!”  
Jane, seeing the beast clearly, took aim and fired a round to its chest. To everyone’s surprise, the bullet ricocheted off the beast like a ping pong ball.  
“Get back!” Bo yelled, “It’s useless! You should take cover!”  
Knowing that she was defenseless with only her gun, Jane turned around and retreated behind a nearby boulder with Maura by her side.  
Tamsin readied herself before telling Bo, “The closer it gets the better chance we have of killing it.”  
“Yeah, and the closer we are to getting fried!”  
“If that’s the case, it’s been nice knowin’ ya,” Tamsin remarked sarcastically.  
The dragon opened its jowls and belted out a gut-wrenching screech.  
“Here we go,” Tamsin whispered to herself as she drew back her knife. She took aim between the eyes of the dragon and whipped her fist shot. The knife’s tip struck the beast right where she’d aimed, but it bounced off just as the bullet had. “Shit,” she took a step back to let Bo have her try.  
Bo, unsure of how exactly to approach the behemoth, charged as fast as she could. With her dagger drawn, she attempted to slit the belly of the beast, but was nearly blasted by the inferno escaping its mouth. Knowing that attacking the beast from the front wouldn’t work, Bo turned to Tamsin, “I need a distraction!”  
Tamsin nodded and began to run around the front of the beast, yelling as if she was going to charge. It only took a moment for the dragon to become bored and let out a large fireball. Tamsin rolled out of the way, her arm hair singed in the process.  
Bo had circled behind the beast and stabbed at its tail to see if she could permeate the hard exterior, but it was no use.  
Outraged, the creature swung its tail, violently sweeping Bo off of her feet.  
“Hey!” Jane ran out from behind the tree.  
The beast screeched and stepped towards here.  
“Jane! Get back here!” Maura screamed in fear.  
Jane noticed Tamsin’s knife on the ground and quickly bent to pick it up and aimed it at the beast. She trembled in fear as Tamsin ran up behind her, “What are you doing?”  
“I have no clue,” Jane stated fearfully, “but it was going to stomp your friend.”  
“I have an idea,” Tamsin quickly ran back around the beast.  
Jane, more fearful as the dragon continued to advance on her, took aim and threw the knife, striking the beast directly in the eye. The beast screeched in pain and swatted at its eye with its front paws.   
Bo finally got to her feet just in time to see Tamsin scaling up the spine of the dragon, carrying her dagger. Not wanting to call her out and attract attention to her, Bo watched helplessly.   
Upon reaching the head of the beast, Tamsin lifted the dagger high over her head with both hands before letting out a vicious war cry and sinking the dagger deep into the skull below. She grabbed hold as the beast screeched and began to plummet to the floor. Everyone backed away as the monster came crashing down, tossing Tamsin violently to the floor.  
“Tamsin,” Bo screamed, as she ran to her side. “Are you alright?”  
Tamsin coughed as she tried to gain a breath, “I’m just great.”  
“You’re crazy,” Jane said, running up. “You could’ve been killed!”  
“And so could you,” Maura scolded before grasping Jane into her arms.  
Bo turned and looked at the dead creature beside her and realized the eye with the knife through it was still glowing yellow. “This must be a sign.” She got up and pulled the knife, plucking the eye from the socket, “I have a feeling we’ll be needing this.”  
“Gross,” Tamsin said, slowly making it to her feet.  
“Is this the type of thing you deal with normally in your world?” Maura asked.  
“No…not exactly.”   
Maura nodded, “Well, I’m glad you knew what to do.”  
“Lucky guess,” Tamsin shrugged off the compliment.  
“We need to get moving,” Bo reminded them as she walked to the mouth of the cave.


	11. Chapter 11

Jane grew tired as the group moved along the base of the mountain range. Her legs felt like they would give out beneath her and her head spun out of control.  
“Jane,” the word echoed in her ears. Maura stopped in front of her and grabbed her shoulders, “Jane, are you ok?”  
“I don’t know,” she said, winded.  
“What’s going on?” Bo and Tamsin stopped and turned to see the interaction between the two.  
“I just,” Jane hesitated, “I have no energy.”  
Tamsin looked at Jane’s eyes, her eyes slanted in thought. “It’s not possible.”  
“What’s not possible,” Bo asked, confused.  
“Move, I know what to do,” Tamsin grabbed Maura by the shoulders and pulled her out of the way before leaning into Jane for a kiss.  
“What the hell do you think you’re doing,” Jane screamed, shoving her back.  
Bo’s voice also held anger, “Yeah, what are you doing?”  
“You want to feel better? Just trust me on this.” Tamsin grabbed Jane by the back of her head, clasping a handful of thick, black curls and pulled her in, kissing her passionately before slowly backing up.  
Maura’s eyes were wide with shock as she saw Jane’s brown eyes turn blue and noticed a blue energy being sucked out of Tamsin.  
Bo’s mouth dropped in disbelief; Jane was a succubus.  
After a moment, Tamsin shoved away from Jane, knowing she wouldn’t know how to stop. “You’re welcome.”  
“Wow,” Jane said amazed as her eyes slowly changed back to brown. “What was that?”  
Bo finally managed to pick her jaw up off the floor, “That’s chi. You somehow got my succubus powers.”  
“What,” Jane chuckled in disbelief, turning to Maura. Her eyes were still wide and her mouth was cracked open in shock. “Maur? You ok?”  
“Your eyes,” she said softly. “Your eyes were blue.”  
“My eyes are brown, Maur.”  
“Not when you’re an active succubus,” Tamsin retorted. “Then they turn blue, just like the chi.”  
“I don’t understand,” Bo turned to Tamsin. “How did that happen?”  
“Beats me.”  
“The portal,” Maura said, looking at the ground, deep in thought.  
“The portal,” Bo inquired.  
“Somehow when we activated both portals simultaneously, we must have jumbled up your powers with our lack of power.”  
“Is that even possible?” Jane asked.  
“Clearly, it is.” Bo said, “But then, where’s the Valkyrie?” She and Tamsin both turned to Maura quizzically.  
“I don’t feel any different.” Maura looked at them, disapproving of their insinuation.  
“Neither did I,” Jane said, realizing that she no longer lacked energy. “Somehow, it’s true though, at least for me.”  
“I guess we’ll find out.” Tamsin stated.


	12. Chapter 12

They walked in silence for a while as they tried to understand what had happened. As they continued through the hills and valleys of this unknown land, Bo promptly stopped and threw up her hand, “Wait.”  
“What?” Tamsin asked, quickly surveying her surroundings.  
“You don’t hear that?”  
“Hear what?” Jane chimed in.  
“The water,” Maura said lightly.  
“Water,” Tamsin asked, her eye brow raised.  
“Yes!” Bo shrieked in excitement as she ran towards the invisible sounds of the babbling brook ahead.  
“Bo, wait!” Tamsin yelled, trying not to let her worry overcome her.  
Jane and Maura followed behind at a quick pace, ensuring their hopes for something to drink wouldn’t get the best of them.  
“It’s really here!” Bo yelled as she ran into the fresh stream.  
“I’m so thirsty!” Tamsin said, as she ran in behind Bo and slammed her hands into the water for a drink.  
Jane and Maura finally saw the stream and ran towards it for a drink also.   
The four, so elated to finally have hydration, drank merrily from the stream. They had finally let their guard down and allowed themselves to enjoy this necessity.  
“Who knew water could taste so good?!” Tamsin complimented.  
Jane splashed some of the refreshing water onto her face before running her hands through her thick black hair. After wiping the excess water from her eyes, she stood and began to take in their new surroundings. They were still about a day’s travel from the mountains that Bo had aimed for but were getting into a heavily wooded area.   
She enjoyed the cool breeze before she saw what appeared to be two glowing-red eyes staring at her from the tree line across from the brook. “Uh, guys…get up,” she stood frozen, staring back at the red eyes.  
“What is it?” Maura asked, making her way to her feet.  
“I…I don’t know.”  
Bo looked at Jane before focusing her attention to whatever she was looking at, “I see it.” She slowly stood to her feet, pulling Tamsin up with her. “Look.”  
Tamsin turned to see what the issue was and soon realized what was drawing everyone’s attention. “What is that?”  
“It looks like a man…with red eyes, a-and wings,” Bo said in a slight disbelief. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”  
“I have,” Jane noted, “I didn’t think it was real though.”  
“What is it?” Maura asked.  
“I think, I mean this sounds crazy, but I think it’s a mothman.”  
“What?” Tamsin couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “That’s just a myth.”  
“So are dragons,” Maura stated matter-of-factly.  
“She has a point,” Bo acknowledged. “What would we need from it?”  
Jane stared at the stationary creature before finally coming up with an idea, “Well, they’re said to kill their prey and wrap them in cocoon type state until they eat them.”  
“I wonder,” Bo mused, “if the cob web, cocoon stuff is what we would need.”  
“What makes you think that?” Tamsin inquired.  
“Well, if it preserves the body before this thing eats it, why couldn’t it help preserve life for Dyson?”  
Tamsin was convinced, “Good enough for me, let’s go.”  
“What are we supposed to do with that thing while we try to find some of that stuff?” Jane asked without budging.  
“We’ll handle that,” Tamsin smiled, pulling a dagger from her boot.  
“Game on,” Bo said, pulling her dagger from her hip holster and crossing the brook.  
Maura looked at Jane hesitantly, “What do we do?”  
Jane looked back to her, “I guess we go to back them up.”  
The group moved towards the winged beast, still motionless against the trees. Bo, in the lead, looked back to Tamsin only for a moment to see where she was in proximity to her. Realizing she was just to her right flank, she turned back, but the beast was gone. “Where’d it go?”  
Tamsin looked to the sky, “It just leapt up, I can’t see it anymore.”  
Jane turned around, grabbing the grip of her gun. “Do you see it?” she asked Maura.  
Maura, who was still facing the fae suddenly pointed, “Behind you!”   
Tamsin was swooped up before either of them could get turned around. “Put her down!” Bo demanded.  
Jane whipped around and took aim at the creature, holding Tamsin tightly in its grasp. Tamsin, struggling for air nodded to Jane as if asking her to take the shot.  
“No, you’ll hit her!” Bo yelled.  
Jane wasn’t fazed by the yelling as she got the beast in her sights and took the shot. Tamsin screamed out as the beast dropped her fifteen feet to the ground. “You got her,” Bo yelled, running to aid her fallen comrade.  
Jane shook her head in disbelief, “No, I only got him.” She pointed to the sky but could no longer see the creature. “I don’t understand,” she turned to Maura, “I know I only got him.”  
Maura placed a hand reassuringly on Jane’s arm and nodded before heading to Tamsin to assess any injuries. Bo had already knelt down and was searching for where the gunshot wound should be. “She’s covered in blood,” Bo frantically told Maura, who was just kneeling down beside her.  
Maura felt for a pulse before turning to give the notification to Jane. “She has a pulse,” she said softly to Bo before turning her attention to her partner. “Jane look out!” she cried as she saw the beast swooping in from behind.  
Jane turned just as the beast collided with her, tossing them both onto the ground in a struggle.   
“Jane!” Maura yelled. She went to get up, but was pulled down by Bo.   
“You stay with her,” Bo ordered as she leapt into action.  
Maura, unable to see the struggle from her place on the ground, focused her attention on Tamsin, trying to find the injury. She couldn’t see any gunshot wounds or any obvious injuries to create so much blood, so she determined it must’ve been the creature’s blood. Jane was right.  
Bo saw that Jane’s gun was missing from its holster, so she had nothing to defend herself. Jane screamed in pain as the beast dug its talons into her sides, attempting to fly off with her. “Oh no you don’t,” Bo said, diving into the scuffle between Jane and the ten-foot-tall attacker. She slashed the mothman’s clawed foot, causing it to release Jane’s left side allowing her to roll away from her attacker.  
The beast cried out in pain before digging his talons into Bo’s shoulders and lifting her off the ground, causing her to drop her dagger. Maura, now seeing what was happening left Tamsin’s unconscious body on the ground and ran towards Jane. Jane was curled up in a fetal position, struggling to breath as the beast had punctured a lung. “Jane! Are you ok?” Maura shrieked as she approached. There was no response.  
Maura looked up to see that the beast was still dangling Bo like a rag doll in the air. “Hey!” she yelled, “come and get me!”  
The beast’s eyes glared red as it threw Bo to the ground and swooped in towards Maura, who was unarmed. Suddenly her anger took over and she could feel herself transforming. Her face sunk in, to resemble that of the skeleton she’d been looking at earlier, and her eyes turned black. “Leave us alone,” she threatened.  
The beast struggled to fly as her glare had it in her grasp, and it slowly collapsed to the ground. Bo, who’d seen the whole thing struggled to her feet and made her way to the fallen beast. She saw Jane’s gun on the ground, picked it up and shot the beast, effectively killing it.  
Maura, with the threat now extinguished, fell back as her body went back to normal. “What happened,” she asked Bo, holding her head.  
Bo walked up and helped her back to her feet, “It looks like you’re the Valkyrie after all.”  
Maura looked at her, “Oh.” She thought about it for only a moment before turning her attention back to Jane. “She’s seriously injured,” she told Bo.  
“Well, lucky for her, she is the succubus.”  
“Why is that lucky?” Maura asked, confused.  
“Because it means she can heal herself by feeding off of us.”  
Maura looked quizzically at her for a moment before turning her attention to her friend, still curled up on her side, struggling for breath. “Are you sure it won’t make it worse?”  
“I’m positive,” Bo replied, “then maybe she can help the rest of us.” She lifted her shirt to see the deep punctures left by the talons.   
“Ok, what do I do?” Maura asked meekly.  
“Well, you’ve got to give her your chi, but not too much or it could kill you. If you’d prefer, I could do it.”  
“No,” Maura shook her head, “I can handle it.”  
“Ok then, I’ll go back to check on Tamsin. I’ll be close by if you change your mind.”  
Maura nodded, again looking at her fallen friend. She would do anything to help Jane and she knew that Jane would do the same. She slowly knelt down behind her, gently placing a hand on her shoulder and hip before rolling her onto her back. Jane groaned in pain, her eyes flickered open as she gasped for breath. Maura could see the fear in her eyes, knowing that she could die out there. “I’m going to help you, ok,” she asked.  
Jane, unable to speak, nodded her head.  
Maura leaned down, her lips only an inch from Jane’s when Jane turned away, “What are you doing?”  
Jane just shook her head, a tear rolling down her eye.  
“I’m not giving you an option here, I have to do this or you will die. Now hold still!”  
Jane was too weak to fight, she knew this, so she grasped both sides of her face to prevent her from turning away again before leaning down and gently kissing her. Nothing happened. Jane again gasped for air, as Maura lifted herself up, “It’s not working.”  
Bo stood to her feet, hearing Maura’s tone, “Everything ok over there?”  
“It’s not working,” Maura shouted, as tears threatened to flow down her face.  
“You’re a Valkyrie here,” Bo said reassuringly, “you can be aggressive, and you can give more than a human can. You just have to really give it your all.”  
Maura nodded, turning back to Jane whose breath was now shallow, no longer able to gasp for air. Without a hesitation, she leant back down and kissed Jane with an overwhelming amount of passion. Jane’s heart jumped, and her eyes turned blue as she slowly regained energy, kissing back more passionately. Maura began to feel light headed as she could feel chi leaving her body, but she didn’t want to pull back just yet. She knew that Jane would need every little bit of strength to help the others also.   
Maura was struggling to pull herself back, as she saw the blue mist being sucked from her body. Jane’s breathing was normal now and the wounds appeared to be healed. Maura pushed back as hard as she could, finally breaking the connection between the two as she landed on her back.  
“Wow,” Jane was astonished. “I feel amazing.” She quickly felt around her ribs where she’d had all the punctures before, and nothing was there. She was completely healed.  
“Good,” Maura said, winded. “Now you need to help Bo.”  
Jane jumped to her feet, a smile on her face. “Thank you,” Jane said, extending an arm down to her dearest friend.  
Maura had never seen her so vibrant. She smiled back and allowed Jane to pull her up from the ground. The pair made their way to the fallen Tamsin, still unconscious on the ground. “She still hasn’t come to?” Maura asked.  
“No,” Bo said in a solemn tone, “I don’t know what is happening to her.”  
“Let me help you,” Jane said, looking at the punctures on her shoulders.  
“Not me.” Bo insisted, “You need to help her first, before we lose her to whatever is happening.”  
“It is most likely internal injuries,” Maura theorized. “Best to move quickly.”  
“What do I do?” Jane asked, looking to Bo for guidance.  
“You have to breathe your chi into her. You may feel a little drain, so don’t go so far as to take yourself back out.”  
“Ok,” Jane said in uncertainty, “I’ll try.” She knelt down, lightly brushing the matted hair from Tamsin’s face and opening her mouth. She attempted to blow some air towards her, thinking that that would do the trick, but nothing was happening. “I don’t understand,” Jane admitted.  
Bo placed a reassuring hand on her back, “Just think of someone or something you can’t live without. Then imagine that your breath is the only thing that can save them. Really feel the power and believe you can do this.”  
Jane nodded, closed her eyes and took a deep, drawn out breath. Opening her eyes, she looked up at Maura before she again leaned down and attempted to breathe the healing chi into Tamsin’s motionless body. Suddenly, she could feel the warmth within her, as a gold mist left her mouth and traveled into Tamsin’s.  
“She’s really doing it,” Maura muttered under her breath.  
It only took a moment before Tamsin’s eyes shot open and she sprang into Jane’s arms, coughing. Jane managed to catch her without toppling, “Are you ok?”  
Tamsin, seemingly surprised to hear Jane’s voice instead of Bo’s, reluctantly released Jane, “I feel fine.”  
“Are you sure,” Bo asked, concerned. “You were out for quite a while.”  
“Yeah, I’m good,” she said, shaken by the fact that Jane’s chi could save her. It must’ve been because she was a human in this land. “What happened to you?” her attention suddenly turned to Bo, whose puncture wounds were still open.  
“Oh, you know me, just a scratch,” she smiled.  
“You need healing,” Tamsin said, clearly concerned. “Why didn’t you heal her?” she asked Jane.  
“She told me to heal you first,” Jane replied before looking back to Bo. “Can I help you now?”  
Bo looked at Tamsin, giving a playful smile, “Sure.”  
Bo, used to being the one in power, grabbed Jane’s arms, “What are you doing?” Clearly Jane didn’t like being manhandled.  
“Sorry,” Bo laughed awkwardly, “force of habit.” She released the detective and took a seat on a nearby rock.  
Jane shook her arms out before she reluctantly moved in closer. She delivered a burst of chi until Bo was healed. Bo was saddened once it was all said and done, she missed her succubus. She didn’t like feeling so helpless and she wanted her power back more than anything. “Well,” she said, standing to her feet, “we better get moving.”  
“What about him?” Tamsin asked, gesturing towards the fallen creature.  
“Oh, right,” Bo walked back to the beast, realizing its whole body was already covered in some sort of cocoon. “Well, that’s interesting.”  
“What?” Tamsin asked, walking up behind her. “Oh wow.”  
Bo pulled her dagger out of its sheath, realizing the golden hue to the web-like material, and cut out a chunk, sticking it in her pocket. “Good enough for me,” she said, looking to Tamsin.  
“Then it’s good enough to me,” Tamsin smiled.


	13. Chapter 13

“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m ready to find a shelter and call it a day,” Tamsin said as she turned to the other women.  
“Yes,” Maura agreed, exhaustion present in her voice. “I too would like to just stop and relax, it really has been a long day.”  
“Ok,” Bo said, “no place like here to set up. I don’t think we’ll be finding any good shelter, not that I think I’d like to have a repeat of this morning anyway.”  
“No kidding,” Jane agreed. “I don’t want to be woken up by another one of Pete’s Dragons tomorrow.”  
Tamsin smirked as she began looking around for a suitable place to start a fire. Bo, hungry from a day of battling mythical creatures, went out in search of food.  
Jane looked around before finding a nice flat area near a tree that looked like it would be suitable to sleep. She looked over to Maura, “I think this is the best spot for us tonight. We should try to find some brush to build up a bit of a shelter. There’s another flat spot under that tree,” she gestured to a tree across from where she was standing, “we can set that up for them.”  
Maura surveyed both areas, “I agree, Jane. Nicely done.” She smiled as she started looking for brush to build up shelter.  
Tamsin, seeing the two setting up beds for the night, selected a fire location between the trees, where they would be more likely to keep some of the heat after the fire died out.   
Just as they were putting the finishing touches on the shelters and getting the fire going, Bo returned triumphantly with a rabbit in hand. “I found us some dinner.”  
“Great, I’m starving!” Maura said excitedly.  
“Looks super yummy,” Jane said sarcastically.  
“Jane,” Maura scolded.  
“What, I don’t like my food looking like a kid’s pet. I like it pre-packaged in the store.” Jane wined.  
“Don’t worry detective, I’ll skin it for you,” Tamsin said with a wink, smiling as she took the rabbit from Bo.  
“Thank you,” Bo smiled at her.  
“Really, thank you for finding us some food. It’s definitely going to be nice to have some food after such a long day,” Jane said humbly.  
“Thank you for healing us all. I know it’s no easy task,” Bo replied.  
“Definitely not something I’d want to have to do all the time. Although it is very empowering.”  
“Tell me about it,” Bo laughed.  
Tamsin returned a short while later with the rabbit and handed it to Maura, who cooked it as promised. The quartet enjoyed the meal before deciding to turn in for the night, after all, it had been a very long day.  
Jane lay down, putting her holstered weapon between her and Maura once again, to have it ready when needed. “Hey, Maur,” she said lightly.  
“Yes, Jane?”  
“I just wanted to thank you for what you did today. I know that I would’ve died if it wasn’t for you.”  
Without moving, Maura replied, “I know you would’ve done the same for me, Jane.”  
“You know I’d do anything for you, Maura.”  
“I know.”  
Jane lay her head down, but something was eating at her. She had really felt something when Maura kissed her, and she wasn’t sure if it was just a misconception from being an inch from death, or the succubus, but she really thought there was a heat between the two of them. She thought about it a moment longer before she had to know, “Hey, Maur?”  
“Yes, Jane,” Maura’s voice sounded even sleepier.  
“Maur, when you kissed me earlier, was it just me or was there something there?”  
Maura lay motionless for a moment before she rolled over to face her counterpart, “What do you mean, Jane?”  
“I mean, did you feel something between us, or was that just the succubus thing?”  
Maura’s gaze lowered, almost as if she was embarrassed, “To be honest, Jane, I was very nervous about doing that.”  
“Why?”  
“I have been wondering for a while what it would be like to be intimate with you.”  
“Really?” Jane was shocked.  
“I’m not proud of it, Jane, but I have a curious mind. I pondered what it might be like to pursue the idea of being with you. It simply makes sense, you are the one person I can always count on and you are always there for me. I mean, I love you, Jane.”  
“Of course, I love you too, Maura, but I never in a million years would’ve thought you felt that way. Why didn’t you tell me?”  
“I was ashamed,” Maura said meekly.  
“Well you don’t have to be,” Jane said reassuringly, rubbing her shoulder.  
Maura finally rose her gaze back to make eye contact with Jane. “You don’t think I’m mentally unstable?”  
“No, of course not.”  
“You have no idea what a relief it is to hear you say that,” Maura smiled.  
Jane looked lovingly into her eyes, “You should know by now that you don’t have to keep things like this to yourself. You can trust me.”  
“I just didn’t know if I was ready to put my heart out on the line. I was afraid of what you’d say.”  
“Don’t be,” Jane leaned in and kissed her reassuringly.  
Maura, overcome with the confession and the heat that radiated between them, passionately kissed back before realizing that Jane’s eyes were blue again. She broke their connection and watched as her eyes slowly faded back to brown. Suddenly she wasn’t so sure that Jane’s affections were truly her own, maybe they were powered or somehow controlled by the succubus. Tonight wasn’t the night to find out, it had been a long day and they really needed to get to sleep. “Goodnight, Jane.”  
Jane looked lovingly at the doctor and smiled, “Goodnight, Maura.”


	14. Chapter 14

“No, no, no!” Jane screamed herself awake, scrambling into a sitting position.  
“Jane?” Maura awoke, trying to locate her counterpart in the darkness.  
“What’s going on?” Bo jumped to her feet, ready to fight whatever had come up.  
“Nothing, I’m fine,” Jane said, unconvincingly.   
Maura, finally finding Jane, placed her hand on her upper back, “Was it a nightmare?”  
“I don’t want to talk about it.”  
Bo, trying not to be frustrated, clarified, “There’s no real threat right now, then?”  
Maura turned to Bo, “No, just a nightmare. She gets them often.”  
“Maura!” Jane hissed, defensively.  
“I get it,” Bo said, finally allowing herself to relax. “I used to get them all the time.”  
“It’s no big deal,” Jane whispered.  
“Ok,” Maura said softly.  
“Look at her,” Bo said, knowing the detective needed a diversion, “must be nice to sleep through anything.” They turned their attention to Tamsin, who lay peacefully asleep.  
“That’d be nice,” Jane lightly scoffed.   
“Well, if you’re sure you’re good, I’m going to try to get some more sleep before the sun comes up. From my estimate, we’re probably only a day out from finding this Shaman person.”  
“You should get sleep. We’re ok,” Maura reassured her.  
“Ok,” Bo hesitated for a moment, before finding her spot back by Tamsin, and laying back down.  
“Was it Hoyt?” Maura asked, lightly brushing curly black hair from Jane’s face. Jane’s head dropped, before she nodded. “Ok, well, you know he can’t hurt you anymore. He’s dead, remember?”  
Tears silently rolled down Jane’s cheeks as she again nodded. “Yeah,” she managed to force out.  
“Come on,” Maura said lightly, “you need to get some sleep. I can keep watch for you for a while.”  
Jane just looked at her for a moment, realizing that there was no real threat that she needed protection from, but that her friend knew exactly what she needed. “Ok.” She grabbed her gun, still secured in the holster, and gave it to Maura, before laying back down in the fetal position. Maura took the gun, knowing this was her friend’s way of showing her absolute faith in her. Going with the same notion as Jane, she lay the weapon between them, before cuddling up behind her and wrapping her arm around her. She gently leaned down, again moving the black mop of hair from Jane’s face, and kissed her gently on the cheek. It wasn’t long before the two were back asleep.  
Morning came all to quickly for the four women, though Tamsin was fully rested. “So, how long do you think before we can get this show on the road?”  
Bo grumbled to her feet, “The sooner we go home, the sooner I can get some real sleep. That ground just kills me.” She leaned backwards, her hands on her lower back.  
“I can give you a quick adjustment if you’d like?” Maura offered, as she brushed herself off.  
“I’d never turn that down,” Bo said flirtatiously. Jane didn’t appreciate the insinuation, but watched as Maura situated herself behind the dark beauty and placed her hands on her hips. Bo smiled at the contact as the doctor quickly made some adjustments to her back. “Oh wow,” she said surprisingly, “that feels amazing!”  
“It’s not my first time,” Maura said jokingly.  
“What? Are you like flirting right now?” Jane accused.  
“What, no,” Maura said playfully.  
“Let’s just go,” she was bothered by Maura’s flirtatious advances at Bo, even though she was sure it was all in good fun.  
“Don’t worry,” Tamsin reassured Jane, as she walked up behind her, “Bo has that effect on all women. Who knows, maybe with that new power of yours, you will too.” She smiled flirtatiously as she passed by.  
Jane was taken back for a moment, but she shook her head and continued forward.  
“I think we can make it to that mountain before sundown, so long as we don’t run across too many more of our friends,” Bo theorized.  
“Good, let’s get this thing over with already,” Jane retorted.   
“I agree,” Tamsin said, “the sooner we get out of here, the sooner I can get rid of these human feelings.”  
“Again, with those human feelings,” Bo asked, “is it really that bad?”  
“Well,” Tamsin looked her in the eyes for a moment, a deep yearning burning within, “it’s not great to not be in control.”  
Bo, realizing her partner was in anguish, pushed for further, “Why isn’t that good?”  
“Look,” she said matter-of-factly, “I like to be in control, I don’t like feeling like my heart or body is betraying me.”  
“Why do you feel like it’s betraying you?”  
“Because,” she paused, “I am feeling things for you. But I know they’re not real, because we don’t like each other like that. I mean, you feed off me when you need to, and we work well together, but you don’t feel the same way.”  
“Wow, Tamsin,” Bo stopped in front of her, grabbing her shoulders. “I didn’t realize you were capable of-“  
“Everything ok over there?” Jane asked, watching the interaction.  
“We’re good, we’ll catch up in a sec,” Bo reassured her.  
“Ok,” Jane and Maura continued moving.  
“I’m not,” Tamsin argued in a hushed tone.  
“Then why are you so upset about whatever it is you’re feeling now?” Bo tried to understand.  
Tamsin was in a whirlwind of emotion, “It’s not supposed to be this way!”  
“What way?”  
“I’m a Valkyrie! A warrior! It’s not in my nature to have emotions and feel this love. I’ve spent many of my past lives staying away from it. This place, it’s making me feel things, and I don’t even think they’re real!”  
Bo, understanding how hard it must be for her partner to be feeling so out of sorts, quickly tried to give her an answer. “Let’s see.” She pulled her in by her waist and gave her a long, passionate kiss.  
Tamsin felt like she was on fire. She felt a heat emanating from her chest; one she’d never felt before. Something was different, from the times that Bo had fed from her in the past. She felt filled, rather than depleted. She didn’t ever want this moment to end.  
Bo, also feeling the difference between this experience and any other she’d had, was enjoying herself. The idea that she couldn’t hurt Tamsin with her succubus powers, was almost more powerful for her than the succubus power itself.   
“Who is that?” They were broken from their embrace as Jane yelled out, pointing in the distance.  
Bo, quickly refocusing her attention to Jane, turned from Tamsin, “Who?”  
“That woman!”  
Tamsin’s attention was also peaked, “Who?”  
“There was a woman over there!”  
“I didn’t see anyone,” Maura said, slightly confused.  
“She was! She was right over there,” Jane insisted. She quickly started off in the directions of the being that she’d seen.  
“Jane, wait!” Maura yelled, taking off after her.   
“We’ll finish this later,” Bo said smiled.  
“Yeah,” Tamsin agreed, as she tried to shake the feeling that had come over her. “Hey, wait up!” She yelled after the other women.


	15. Chapter 15

“Jane!” Maura yelled after her, as she tried to catch up. “Jane, wait!”  
Tamsin was able to catch up to her and lunged for her arm, “What are you doing?”  
Jane’s eyes were wild,” You didn’t see her?”  
Slightly concerned that the detective had lost her mind, she again asked, “Who?”  
“The woman, she…she was –,” she trailed off, again turning towards the woods. She turned back to Tamsin, somewhat confused, “I saw her.”  
Bo and Maura finally met the others, and were also both concerned with Jane. “Jane, are you feeling ok,” Maura reached out for her forehead.  
“I’m fine,” Jane stated defensively, swatting Maura’s hand away.  
“Who did you see?” Bo asked.  
Jane again scanned the tree line before facing her comrades, “I saw a woman. She was very fair-skinned, kind of like porcelain or something. But her hair…her hair was golden, like everything else we’ve needed so far.”  
“Well, I don’t see her now,” Tamsin said matter-of-factly.  
“I know she was there,” Jane insisted. “I just didn’t see where she went.”  
“We believe you, Jane,” Maura reassured her.  
“You know what’s weird?” Tamsin mused.  
“What?” Maura shifted her attention to the former Valkyrie.  
“That tree,” she made her way to a large oak a few yards away.  
“Why is that weird,” Bo asked,  
“Look around you, we’re surrounded by pine trees, but this is an oak tree. It’s the only one I’ve seen this whole time.”  
“You know,” Maura chimed in, “in Greek mythos, Dryads were said to be nymphs in oak trees.”  
“And why is that relevant now,” Jane asked condescendingly.  
“Because,” she tried not to cater to Jane’s attitude, “it’s said that they are capable of shape-shifting.”  
“You think this tree can turn into a person?” Bo asked, clearly doubting the intel.  
“No, not the whole tree. The Dryads are a part of the tree; they are interconnected. It’s said that many Dryads will die if the tree itself dies.”  
“So, you think that this porcelain woman is connected to this tree. Where is she?” Bo asked.  
“Historically speaking, if these nymphs are indeed able to shape-shift, they can’t go too far from the tree.” Maura said, looking around them.  
“Uh, you guys, I think I found her,” Tamsin stated in disbelief, looking up into the tree. “Is this her?”  
Jane rushed to her side and looked to where she was pointing. About two-thirds of the way up the tree trunk, a feminine form seemed to be present, but it wasn’t the porcelain beauty she’d seen earlier. The form appeared to be a part of the tree, matching the bark already present. “I guess it could be, but this isn’t what I saw before.”  
Maura walked up to them and looked up. “Yes, this seems right based on the literature I’ve studied.”  
“Well,” Bo jumped in, “there’s no time to waste. What do we need from her?”  
“Her hair was what was glowing when I saw her,” Jane stated, “but I don’t see anything that looks like hair now that she’s in the tree.”  
“Let’s just climb up there and see,” Bo stated, outstretching her arms towards the tree trunk.  
“No!” Maura yelled.   
Bo pulled her hands back like the tree was on fire, “What, why?”  
“The myth is that, if a person disrespects the tree, the Dryads will punish them. One belief even adopts the idea that, if a person was to damage or kill the tree, the Dryads will come back to haunt them.”  
“Well we don’t want that,” Bo stated, backing a few steps away from the tree.   
“So, if we need something from the tree, how do we get it then,” Jane wondered aloud.  
“We could ask it,” Tamsin guessed.  
“Ask it?” Bo laughed, “It’s a tree.”  
“What’ve we got to lose,” Jane shrugged. “Hey Miss tree lady.”  
“Dryad,” Maura corrected.  
“Excuse me, Miss Dryad, can we please get some help from you,” she asked sarcastically.  
“Jane.”  
“What? How am I supposed to ask?”  
“Respectfully,” Maura insisted.  
“Ok,” Jane sighed, throwing her head back. “I’ll ask respectfully.” She composed herself, then silently walked over to the tree, gently placing the palm of her hands against the trunk. She felt a wave of passion surge from her arms into the tree, as she desperately tried to get the Dryad to come back out.  
“Is she?” Tamsin started.  
“Charming the tree? Oh yeah,” Bo nodded, a small smile overcoming the side of her mouth.  
“What?” Maura asked.  
“It’s this magic power that the succubus has. They just touch someone, or apparently something, in order to get them to fall in love with them.” Tamsin answered.  
“Oh, I see,” suddenly Maura began to think this could’ve happened with herself and Jane.  
“Don’t worry,” Bo said lightly, “the succubus only controls what she does, not what she says.” She winked at the medical examiner, before walking back next to Jane. “I think it’s working.”  
“Why do you say that?” Tamsin asked, watching the detective.  
“That’s why,” Maura pointed back up to the feminine figure, who was coming back out of the tree.  
“We need your help,” Jane said, slowly lowering her hands from the tree.   
“My friend’s sick, we’re trying to get to the Shaman for a cure,” Bo added.  
“Is there something that you can help us with,” Maura asked.  
Without a word, the Dryad slowly drifted to the ground, as if she was a fallen leaf. She extended a closed fist to Jane, which appeared to be glowing from the inside out. “For me?” Jane asked nervously. The Dryad maintained eye contact and slowly opened her hand, revealing glowing acorns. “Thank you,” she said as she gently took the acorns from the mythical being. The Dryad stared another moment at the detective, her eyes twinkling, before gracefully floating back up into the tree.  
“I think she likes you,” Tamsin teased.  
“Shut up!” Jane retorted, putting the acorns in her pocket. “How many different ingredients do you need for this wizard guy anyway?” She asked Bo.  
“Oh, uh, well, we don’t know.”  
“You don’t know,” Maura asked in disbelief.  
“Well, we didn’t have very much information on this particular curse. It’s a dark fae thing,” she stole a quick glimpse at Tamsin.  
“Wait, are you the bad guy,” Jane asked, stepping in front of Maura, yet again.  
“No,” Tamsin said defensively. “I’m here to help.”  
“She’s fine,” Bo agreed. “It doesn’t matter what side she works for.”  
“Ok,” Maura said, attempting to redirect the tension that was building. “How far out do you think we are now?”  
Bo looked to the mountain and smiled, “We’re nearly there now.”


End file.
